The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1887-05-21

That eminent legal medical. sociallstic.
prohibition luminary who runs the editori-
al scissor mill Of the Streator IRd.1tmes, Is
never happy except when pouring hot shot
into the La Sale county boodlers" The
shot is now particularly hot because some
of the indictments h ave been quashed. On
the subject Of "boodlers' this 2. m..s.-p.l.
is like mad bull with red rag In Its face
and a man In that condition Is never truth.
full To tell the truth might ruin the
sheets position; watch Is that 1.-THE
three organs that support and defend the
Ottawa boodlers have been denouncing the
Ind. Times for Its opinion of the law on the
subject as interpreted by the court"
Now In the first place, there are no g or
gans that support and defend the Ottawa
boodlers." No paper has been more thor.
oughly lied about by the ind.Ttmes than
The FREE TRADER, called defender of
the boodlers;" and yet we defy any one to
find a word in their favor in this paper
except that the men charged, who had
heretofore lived blameless lives, should be
tried by the courts and jury of their
peers, and not by independent newspa-
pers, seeking to sell their papers by sensa-
tional convictions of certain men before
the constituted authorities should have had
chance to hear the cases judicially. Sec
ondly, the criticism Of the Ind, Times has
not been legitimate criticism of the lac,
but undisguised attacks on the integrity of
the Judge who interpreted that law. Now
that sort of thing Is not far removed from
thinly disguised anarchism, and we had
supposed that anarchism had been forever
silenced in the State of Illinois. The good
people of La Sale county must not allow
themselves to be led astray by these "inde-
pendents'" anarchistic utterances. The
Circuit Court of this county may safely be
vet trusted TO administer justice for the
people according to the law of the land I;
nor do we believe the people Of La Sale
county can at this day be made to believe
that Judge Blanchard and Judge Stipp
have soiled their judicial robes by corrup-
ton In this matter, even though such emil
nently high. toned lawyers as Messrs. Rose
and eRoy make the charge that they have.
Do let us have some common sense In this
matter. The earth is not going to fall be-
cause couple of indictments have failed
to stick. The end is not yet with this busi-
ness: and whatever Is criminal in the
transactions of the indicted eX-offiCe hold
els, the people may rest assured, Will be
punished. But so far as the people are
concerned, better that the whole business
fall to the ground and every guilty man
escape, than that they should be convicted
through the believing of newspapers. Had
the high. toned Doc Leroy walked Into the
Circuit Court room and said to Judge
blanchard on the bench three weeks ago;
: Sir, If YOU dare to quash that indictment
against Nash and Raymond, want to tell
YOU, YOU will be forever politically and so.
cially damned-you will dig your political
grave the whole county would have uni
ted to give encouragement to any one who
would give him coat of feathers; yet that
is what he said in his newspaper. What
is the difference between brow. beating a
Judge to his face and doing 1t In a newspa-
per? Either is dangerous tC the peace of
the county. The people ought not to per
nit it. If allowable in one case II Is equal
" so In another. 1t would allow Mr.. Doc
LeRoy to threaten Judge Blanchard with
vengence when called upon TO hear case
in which Doc Leroy might be interested
to the disadvantage of another litigant. 1t
permits, in short, editors { y to usurp the
functions of the Courts, to decide questions
of right and wrong, to settle questions of
property rights and rights of persons en-
tirely without reference to law or equity,
but as their own caprices should happen to
dictate. The outrage should not be longer
permitted. To so permit 1t would be the
ruinatlon of the community. Let the peo-
pie have patience; let them leave law to
the Judges for Interpretation. Then will
personal and public rights remain in safe
keeping and justice be meeted out to each
as each deserves, and litigants protected In
their rights In Court from the attacks of
red mouthed newspapers upon judges try
ing their causes because their decisions
happen not TO coincide with the editors
notions of-the law